Dell not to manufacture in India now

Mohali, Punjab, March 21 | Updated: Mar 22 2005, 05:30am hrs

US-based $49 billion PC maker Dell Inc has unveiled plans to significantly expand its operations in the country, with the launch of its third contact centre in Mohali, near Chandigarh. And while it is looking at recruiting 1,500 professionals by end-March 2006 for this centre, the management has ruled out setting up of a manufacturing facility in India.

At present, the policies prevailing are not conducive to opening a manufacturing facility in the country, Dell chairman Michael Dell said.

India has been an area of focus for Dell in recent years, he said while inaugurating the centre here.We are looking at a significant expansion of our operations in the country. We will be focusing on the local market for our products and services, especially in enterprise segment. We see a fast growing market in the country for our PCs, servers, storage solutions, and imaging and printing solutions, Mr Dell said.

He, however, refrained from divulging any investment plans. We have invested tens of millions in our contact centre operations in the country, he said.

At present, Dell has 8,000 professionals based in its two contact centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The company has commenced operations in Mohali at a 1,80,000 square-foot centre, with 300 professionals. The centre will provide sales, technical support and customer care to Dell customers in the US.

Interestingly, the company has also given its contact centre operations to third-party vendors like EXL Services, Wipro Spectramind, 24/7 Customer and Sutherland. The setting up of our three contact centres in the country might take some amount of work away from these players. However, we will try and maintain a balance between the captive work of Dell and our third-party vendors, Mr Dell said.

Dell established its first India contact centre in Bangalore in May 2001; its second such centre, in Hyderabad, opened in March 2003.

Mr Dell, however, denied any plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the country. At present, we have manufacturing facilities in six locations around the world, one each in Penang, Malaysia and another in Xiamen, China.